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MP3: DD/MM/YYYY – Infinity Skull Cube

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MP3: DD/MM/YYYY – Digital Haircut

I have this compulsion that started back in elementary school when I played the trumpet: I have to identify the time signature of every song that I listen to. Usually it’s pretty easy to do, but sometimes I get thrown off. Any well-masked measure of three will transform me, one of those too-hip-for-your-face type college students, into a little boy who’s just discovered a lollipop in a sandbox. This phenomenon makes listening to DD/MM/YYYY’s (Wiki) latest record, Black Square, like finding a whole candy shop in the endless sandbox of Time. Skimming through the album, there are at least two songs in 5/4 (!!!), one that might be 7/8 time, and many many more rhythmic gems.

Good readers of Aural States, I’m a sucker for irregular time signatures. Every single time. It so happens that the effective use of an abnormal signature is a pretty reliable signal that the musicians at hand know what they’re doing. This probably applies to these choice experimental-rockers.  As far as I can tell, they’ve all got chops.  DD/MM/YYYY are what appears to be 7 Canadians who, if I may borrow a phrase from Zack Turowski (on Abe Vigoda), “find a happy middle ground between knowing how to play their instruments and performing songs that don’t demand to be played at medium-low volume in your bedroom with the blinds drawn and the door shut tight.”

Well said.

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